The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1887-04-12
SLICK 1HEF rs,
Tho Greatest System OF Robbery
Put Oh the Record. /
THE PANHANDLE FlLCNED
BY Its Dishonest Employees to tho
Extent Of Many Thousands.
BIBLES AND REVOLyERS
BIBLES AND REyOLyERy
Make Up a Part Of tho Plumber
Taken from Cars.
SCENES AT, TIE JAIL.


city. For nearly Two years goods OF all
descriptions hnve been missing from near.
ly all through freight trains on the Pitts.
burgh. Cincinnati & st. Louis railroad
and on the Pennsylvania railroad ss we'll
Cars wsro en.ere,l in srch manner as Ia
defy detection, and in many cages entire
failed TO reach their deatina,
ton.
Upon investigation, however, It was
invariably found that the cars were not
only properly sealed, but that there was
no evidence whatever oi the seals having
been tampered with. In this manner
thousands upon thousand Of dollars worth
Of goods were stolen, whils every effort to
trace the thieves proved futile. At last
the matter assumed such prnlisious shape
that the officials OF the rcads interested
were compelled 70 take come action 10
atop it or clo'e the road. This occurred
about zine months ago. A!ler aeyersl
conap!is:ions D. u. Gilkeaon, the we'll
known private detective OF this citv, was
secured snd placed in charge OF the casa,
He immediately eet his force to work, and
the fret frri,s @ero aoxn last mid nivht
When oEo hundred Pittsburgh policemen,
oil in e;tizsra' clothes, and IN charge ct
the city md special d.tec;;vca, were form.
ed into email fquads at Deputy Mayor
Gripp's ctiice aI.i etarttd or different
routeh Throughout the city. Sume vert
out on t:sina, others marched out Penn
aveIrs, while still othen made tour o!
the hill. By and b? thay began to return,
and with them one, tTc, threa and four
pripouers and wagon load upon wagon load
OF merchandise. The piieopc.s we're
placed in the iail, while the goods were
placed in Mr.. GllkeGon's private office, on
Diamond alley. Among tho articles con.
fscesed were cigafe byth grosa, siIka and
sat;ps by the web, ailyerwaIe, boots, shoes.
Biblce, hooks, dress goods, and in fact all
conceivable Kind OF merchandise. The
articles had bsen found in the rooms OF
conductors and brekcmen OF the Pan.
Handle road NJ their ya-;oue boarding
houees throughout the city. Small ar
ticles and jeTelry were alIo found on q
nun,aes Of the paf.ies arrested. Oae maa
haG twenty-five pawn tickets, aud it is be-
lievcd that evsty one Of the twenty-five
articles we're stolen.
now TUE KosBEgrgS WE'RE DETKorRp.
John Il. Hampton, Esq, Attorney ior
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, was
eeen this morning in tho Office OF Gilkin.
sons Detective Agency where, sitting
amidst netercg aleous collection OF the
plurder, he eaid:
"You already knoS thu. these rohberiea
have beou carried on systematically ior
several yeate. The company iav, long
been H&are that thc,o gaa leuEage some.
where, and SIS early aB September, 1856,
they quietly commenced Investigations.
1t was supposed at frat that tho sa.cenics
were committed ct the On.er depot, hu! q
very culsory inquiry proved this to be a
mistake. The operations extended over a
vart ield OF which tho Outer Depot 'sas
bu. M atom.
Then we put Giikeaou on the Gaze.
And right here ! want to say that To hin,
ia due all the credit for working 10 sue.
cetsiul conclusion The direction ol one Of
the Eoet s;NpeL jous slyterla Of petty rob.
be!iea in the annals oil l2ilfoGdng. How
did be work it out? All, nuS YOU arc
askirg too much. It would hardly DO 10
give away all tho metnGdl OF tb;ci.catch-
ing. In q gtner. way may say .iil. de-.
teesives were placed pn trains where ina
goods could bt watched and the thicyeb
caught We hal already discovered tha,
the cu!rrta were ewployta el the Corr
pany. lu September there were 40 crews
OF freight trains or the Panhandle reiiraa;l
coming into Pittsburgh. Nttinfc tH ere.s
no less than 15 were found to DO crook I'd.
A crew consisted Of n conductor, ilagman
and two braso;nen. III soue cases al the
men were involved. In others only part.
Not single engineer or fireman was mixed
up Ia the robberiee.
'"The goods were obtained by the thieves
in various ways. In many inEtsnccg tho
seals on bonded cars we're brpkan, wbilo
in others hatChets we're naed to Gu! hole
in the end OF tie Car, through which the
men crawlcd and took what they coveted.
Then they reported tho car In bal coiIdi-
.ion, claiming that the hole had bean
made by accident. The operations we're
all the resu!. Of combination. Arrange
ments were carefully made and each rascal
was assigned to his particular part Of the
work In much the game way ee a bank
robbery is conducted by professional
do not know that the mem.
bera OF the combination were oatf'bound
or anything OF that kind, bHt II ia certain
that a thorough understanding t1ia!ed
among them and that they ac.ed in con-
cert 10 cover each others tatedoiRgs.
A DEMoRALIzlSO FEATURE.
"0ne g! tbs mot temornlizing leasurea
OF tho cnae Is that when new men were
employed az brakeman o. whst not, and
when they refused TO Join The rest Of the
crew In their diehonest prActicca, ,they
were told: IT is no sin to rob n railroad
They forgot thss the suilerers
from their depreAations were privnts riti-
zens-peoplc whp had entrusted their
goods 10 the company ior delivery, AMI
that the railroad waR Eat thaiE victim al
all. Another thing, which alarmed us
moro than anything olss, w:.h that they
stole large quantities Of whiaky and drank
II in the Cahoose. They needed veBsclB to
hold the liquor, 30 they n,ole milk cana
and kept It in them. Not daring to keep
whisky openly in the cars they tore up the
ilooring and hid 1t in the milk cam, bot
ties, etc, underneath. hut though
they could keep tho atn!I ont
OF sight thoy could not hide ith
eDecis upon themselves. IN onn case n
ysrdmastcr, who should he 4 particularly
3:,:aL.e, C!ou.hoaj"d man, wHa ionnd co
badly intoxicated that he WAS removed
from his position. Two OF the mcn Hr.
rented on trnina Las! night were very
drunk. Tho discovery Of tho whisky.
drinking VIVA made abont ak weeks a9o.
An inspec.or wan gcnt to examine all tho
carp, and the practice waa broken mp. "
yas known than. OF courae, that tho other
roiJheriea were taking place. bnt tho caae
wnn not yet worked up sufficiently 10 al
low Of arrest, 30 tho mon were not given
an inkilng that they were suspectHd. You
pse, with drunken men continually In